This invention relates to product packaging, and particularly to the selecting and combining of products from various sources for combination packaging.
This invention has particular utility in the preparation of multi-product packages such as food items where different flavors, colors, or types are combined to make an assortment in a single package. Examples are beverage six-packs and baby food cartons.
The invention resides in a continuous flow apparatus and method whereby products are drawn from individual sources and combined into groups containing articles from each source for packaging into cartons or containers of appropriate size. This is done by a rotor having pockets along its periphery, the rotor mounted for rotation past a series of fixed points along its periphery at each of which are supplied articles from one of the several sources. A stationary barrier superimposed over the rotor limits the depth to which the articles penetrate into the pockets. The barrier is contoured to increase the permissible penetration depth of each pocket as the rotor rotates, at a rate which permits only a preselected number of articles, preferably one, to enter each pocket at each fixed point. Once a pocket has collected articles from each source, it continues to rotate to a point where the articles are ejected from the pocket as a group and subsequently packaged.